The Gossip Defalsification
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: Set immediately following "The Herb Garden Germination." Leonard can't believe Amy's pregnant...but then becomes suspicious.  How the gossip ring finally ends. Leonard, Amy, Penny, and Sheldon appear in this fic.


This was written for Krys, who had asked for a follow up to the end of the last Big Bang Theory episode, "The Herb Garden Germination", and had requested that it have a Leonard/Sheldon scene. Here's the fic! The characters that appear are Leonard, Penny, Sheldon, and Amy. As far as shipping goes, in this fic everything is 100% platonic.

DISCLAIMER: The idea is Krys'. The show and it's characters belong to Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, as well as CBS, Warner Brothers, and whoever else. Not me.

This picks up immediately after the episode ends.

"Orth…what?" Leonard asked, furrowing his brow.

"Hmmm. Interesting. Gotta go!" Amy stepped around Leonard and headed down the stairs.

Leonard stared after her. Amy was pregnant? One sexual encounter with Sheldon and all of a sudden she was carrying his baby? Maybe 'aloof and effective' was the way to go, after all.

He started up the stairs, picking up the pace until he was jogging upon reaching the top. "Penny!" he said when he found her still standing in the door.

She came out, holding her hands out. "Did you get my text?" She said, looking shocked.

"Yeah!" He held his phone out to show her.

"Okay, sweetie, I don't need proof!" She shook her head, laughing. "But can you _believe_ it?"

"No!" He said. "I mean…_them_?"

"Well, they'd planned on parenthood earlier this year…" Penny shook her head. "I'm more terrified of the reason that they had sex!"

Leonard raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Yeah, that too. But at the same time, I don't want to know."

"Ew, you're right," Penny said. "He'd probably go into the details."

"Ugh!" Leonard said, making a face. He shook his head as if he was trying to clear mental images.

"Stop!" Penny said, holding her hands in front of her face. "Don't shake them over here!"

They laughed, and then both looked at the stairwell simultaneously. "Should I be…over there?" Penny asked.

He shrugged. "I'm not meeting her for ten minutes anyway."

"You weren't heading down there?" She asked, cocking her head.

"Oh, I was," Leonard said. "Priya's in the lobby. But I have to question Sheldon first!"

"Let me know what he says!" Penny said, heading back to her apartment. She stopped in the threshold and half turned. "Actually…paraphrase."

"I'll keep your version PG," he said.

"PG-13," she said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not a baby."

Leonard laughed, unlocking the door and entering his apartment. "Sheldon?" He asked.

Sheldon looked up from his phone. "Hello, Leonard."

"So…" he said, dropping the key into the bowl, and walking slowly toward the couch. "How's it going?"

"Oh, you want to discuss the day's events. All right." Sheldon put his phone into his pocket. "I went to the computer store to replace my mousepad, Amy and I went to the park and made fun of the Ronald McDonald look alike pretending to teach kids about planets by using Happy Meal toys, and…now I'm here, pretending like I care if you know what went on in my day or not!" He smiled. "And excelling at it, if I do say so myself!"

"Good for you," Leonard said with a hint of sarcasm. "Anyway…is there any more…news, I should know about?"

Sheldon thought. "Amy's given up on the herb garden."

"Oh yeah, why?"

"She said because no one cared."

"So she's decided to nurture…something else? In place of the…herbs?"

Sheldon looked up. "I don't follow." He pulled his phone slightly out of his pocket and studied it.

"What's the blinking light?" Leonard asked.

"Oh…battery's running low," Sheldon said. "No biggie. I'd better go and…charge it." He headed over to his desk, opening his laptop and angling it so the screen could not be seen by Leonard.

Leonard cocked his head. "Okay. That's normal." He walked toward his bedroom. "I'm going to change my…socks, and then I'm going to see Priya."

"You're a big boy, Leonard, do whatever you want," Sheldon said, looking disinterested. _Too_ disinterested. Even for him. Leonard cautiously backed around the corner and waited.

He didn't have to wait long. He heard Sheldon's voice, asking who he presumed was Amy when she'd get home. Was he wondering why she'd told Penny – or anyone – about the pregnancy? Was he embarassed, and wanted to keep it a secret? He took a step forward to listen.

"The gossip is spreading like the flames on Mrs. O'Leary's barn," Sheldon said. He paused. "No, the other one…I guess we've established that information relating to sex spreads faster than the kind that one would feel comfortable sharing…that's a good point, Amy. But how do we test that?"

Leonard frowned in confusion. Then he raised his eyebrows. _Oh._

"I know, Amy. If we want to test if the sexual information passes quickly simply because of who has allegedly engaged in it, we'd have to get others to give out similar information, lower beings who actually engage in sexual intercourse." There was a pause. "I know we'd have to pay them."

Leonard looked up at the ceiling. Wow. He didn't know whether he should be annoyed or impressed.

He realized he'd zoned out of the conversation. Shaking his head, he focused again on Sheldon's voice.

"What do you mean, it'd have to be people who haven't actually had coitus with each other? Wouldn't that make it less believeable…oh…well, when you put it that way…is that you putting the key into the lock?" Leonard peered around the corner and looked at his room mate's back as Sheldon cocked his head. "That's what who said?"

Leonard had to bite his sleeve to keep from laughing.

"Well, turn on the webcam! Cellular phones are so impersonal…you're right, all phones. There! Goodbye!"

Leonard couldn't see Amy; Sheldon's back was blocking the computer, but the way Sheldon leaned forward showed him that he was looking at the screen.

"So what do you propose we do next?" Amy asked. "Go with what we were talking about, or send this experiment off on another trajectory?"

Experiment. That was the word Leonard was waiting for. Until then, he couldn't be sure. He pulled out his phone and texted Penny. _Shamy's messing with us._

He exited the hallway and walked toward the laptop. "Amy! What a coincidence!" Sheldon jumped, but Amy, who had seen him approaching, simply smiled. "Hello, Leonard. I take it you've heard the news?"

"Oh, I've heard the news, all right," Leonard said, smiling. He put a hand on Sheldon's shoulders. "You two are pretty incredible."

"Thank you, Leonard," Amy said.

"Yes, thank you," Sheldon said. "Now please get your hand off of my shoulder."

"Still have a touch phobia?" Leonard asked, allowing himself to smile as he headed toward the door. "Interesting…"

When he was gone, Amy frowned. "Sheldon. Do you suspect that he knows?"

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Please. He only has one PhD."

Hope you all liked it! Review, please!


End file.
